Language of Love by Deborah Reber - Review

The Language of Love
Deborah Reber
Simon Pulse

Note: The Language of Love is the first selection in Love, Love, Love and is the one I'm reviewing here.  The book also contains Cupidity by Caroline Goode.

Janna is tired of being the friend who either doesn't get noticed or who boys talk to in order to get close to her BIF Molly.  So when the extremely hot Julian starts flirting with her because he thinks she's Hungarian, well it doesn't take much for Molly to convince her to go along with it.

Janna has never had a real boyfriend and this guy seems interested.  She's torn between wanting him to like her for who she really is and just wanting him to like her.  The longer she keeps up the charade, the harder it is to tell Julian the truth.  Especially since she's really falling in love with him. Janna's other best friend, Emmett, thinks she's lost her mind.  He doesn't understand how she can't see how great she is, without pretending to be Hungarian.  Molly, on the other hand, has found love with Julian's best friend, Spence, and feels that as long as she's in it, Janna should be too!

What's a girl to do?

My Thoughts
First off, I must say, it was so nice to read a young adult book without an excess of sex, drinking, cursing, etc. I can relate to Janna's being tired of playing "the bridesmaind". So her willingness to go along with Molly was realistic.  But, Molly was the one I could picture best. Her bold personality and "I think the world should revolve around me" attitude was good to see, though I wish she wasn't so boy-crazy.  I liked how her and Janna's relationship evolved and bounced back.  Never to be the same, but that's a good thing. At first I thought Julian was shallow, he only wanted to know more about Janna because of her accent.  But, maybe he was sick of the usual suspects and just wanted someone who wasn't affected by our oversexed, overly made-up culture. Oh, wait ::gets down off high horse::.  I think he was looking for someone real.  It just turns out she wasn't, sort of.

The Language of Love is a light, love story that's perfect for middle and high schoolers. The characters go to parties, sleepovers, and movies.  Like normal teenagers.  They try to make curfew, they dislike school, they just want to be liked.  Like normal teenagers.  That's what I enjoyed about this book.  I can hand it to most anyone, no caveats needed.

Read The Joys (and Challenges) of Working with Teens by Deborah Reber - Guest Post on The Brain Lair

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